Interstate 280 (I-280) is an

auxiliary Interstate Highway Auxiliary Interstate Highways (also called three-digit Interstate Highways) are a subset of highways within the United States' Interstate Highway System. The 323 auxiliary routes generally fall into three types: spur routes, which connect to or i ...

that makes up the western and southern portions of the

beltway A ring road (also known as circular road, beltline, beltway, circumferential (high)way, loop or orbital) is a road or a series of connected roads encircling a town, city or country. The most common purpose of a ring road is to assist in reducin ...

around the

Quad Cities The Quad Cities is a region of five cities (originally Tri-Cities, later four, see #History, History) in the U.S. states of Iowa and Illinois: Davenport, Iowa, Davenport and Bettendorf, Iowa, Bettendorf (the fifth to be included) in southeaster ...

Illinois Illinois ( ) is a U.S. state, state in the Midwestern United States, Midwestern United States. It borders on Lake Michigan to its northeast, the Mississippi River to its west, and the Wabash River, Wabash and Ohio River, Ohio rivers to its ...

and

Iowa Iowa ( ) is a U.S. state, state in the upper Midwestern United States, Midwestern region of the United States. It borders the Mississippi River to the east and the Missouri River and Big Sioux River to the west; Wisconsin to the northeast, Ill ...

. The freeway starts at

I-80 Interstate 80 (I-80) is an east–west transcontinental freeway that crosses the United States from San Francisco, California, to Teaneck, New Jersey, in the New York metropolitan area. The highway was designated in 1956 as one of the ori ...

near

Davenport, Iowa Davenport ( ) is a city in Scott County, Iowa, United States, and its county seat. It is situated along the Mississippi River on the eastern border of the state. Davenport had a population of 101,724 as of the 2020 United States census, 2020 cen ...

, and ends at

near

Colona, Illinois Colona is a city in Henry County, Illinois, along the Green River. It is part of the Quad Cities metropolitan area. The population was 5,045 at the 2020 Census. The City of Colona was created in 1997 by the merger of the former City of Gre ...

; its eastern part runs

concurrent Concurrent means happening at the same time. Concurrency, concurrent, or concurrence may refer to: Law * Concurrence, in jurisprudence, the need to prove both ''actus reus'' and ''mens rea'' * Concurring opinion (also called a "concurrence"), a ...

with

I-74 Interstate 74 (I-74) is an Interstate Highway in the Midwestern and Southeastern United States. Its western end is at an interchange with I-80 in Davenport, Iowa; the eastern end of its Midwest segment is at an interchange with I-75 ...

to return to I-80. I-280 forms the southern part of a circle around the Quad Cities as well as forming part of a bypass (along with I-80) for US Route 61 (US 61) around Davenport. This road is long.

Route description

I-280 begins at a

directional T interchange In the field of road transport, an interchange (American English) or a grade-separated junction (British English) is a road junction that uses grade separations to allow for the movement of traffic between two or more roadways or highways, using ...

with

on the northwestern outskirts of Davenport. US 6 and US 61 join I-280 from opposite directions of I-80 at the interchange. It heads south along the western edge of Davenport. At the Kimberly Road exit, US 6 splits off to the east. It continues south for , crossing Duck Creek, toward a

diamond interchange A diamond interchange is a common type of road junction, used where a controlled-access highway crosses a minor road. Design The freeway itself is grade separation, grade-separated from the minor road, one crossing the other over a bridge. ...

with Scott County Road F65 (CR F65), which becomes Locust Street in Davenport. I-280 Bridge

Further south, I-280 passes the West Lake Park. South of West Lake Park, US 61 splits away from the Interstate on its way toward Muscatine. In the other direction, US 61 Business (US 61 Bus) heads toward the Davenport riverfront. South of US 61, I-280 curves to the southeast towards the

Mississippi River The Mississippi River is the main stem, primary river of the largest drainage basin in the United States. It is the second-longest river in the United States, behind only the Missouri River, Missouri. From its traditional source of Lake Ita ...

. It drops into the river valley and meets

Iowa Highway 22 Iowa Highway 22 (Iowa 22) is a west–east state highway that traverses primarily rural areas in east-central Iowa. The highway begins near Thornburg at an intersection with Iowa Highway 21 and ends in southwestern Davenport, at U.S. High ...

(Iowa 22). It continues southeast and crosses the river via the Sergeant John F. Baker Jr. Bridge. In Illinois, I-280 runs for . It runs southeast from the Baker Bridge to

Milan Milan ( , , ; ) is a city in northern Italy, regional capital of Lombardy, the largest city in Italy by urban area and the List of cities in Italy, second-most-populous city proper in Italy after Rome. The city proper has a population of nea ...

, where it parallels the Rock River. I-280 joins with I-74 at

Quad Cities International Airport Quad Cities International Airport is a public airport in Rock Island County, Illinois, three miles (5 km) south of Moline, partly in Blackhawk Township and partly in Coal Valley Township. In 2012 it was named "Illinois Primary Airport ...

; this concurrency continues for before terminating at the I-74/I-80 interchange. On the southeast corner of the Quad Cities (in Illinois), I-280 heading east ends and becomes I-80 while I-80 heads south from LeClaire, Rapids City, and Port Byron. I-80 heading south becomes I-74 which (after going through the center of the Quad Cities) hooks up with I-280. This exchange is called the

Big X is a science fiction manga series and an anime series by Osamu Tezuka, about German Nazis trying to create secret weapons toward the end of World War II. The anime, which was Tokyo Movie's first work, is considered lost, with only episode ...

History

I-280 has been at the center of a few debates regarding its routing. In the early 1990s, the state of Illinois suggested, via

American Association of State Highway and Transportation Officials The American Association of State Highway and Transportation Officials (AASHTO) is a standards setting body which publishes specifications, test protocols, and guidelines that are used in highway A highway is any public or private road ...

(AASHTO) and

Intermodal Surface Transportation Efficiency Act The Intermodal Surface Transportation Efficiency Act of 1991 (ISTEA, ) is a United States federal law that posed a major change to transportation planning and policy, as the first U.S. federal legislation on the subject in the post-Interstate H ...

(ISTEA) hearings, swapping the I-80 and I-280 designations around the Quad Cities. The plan would have also changed I-74 to I-174. This was challenged by the state of Iowa, and the idea was dropped. One of the reasons Illinois pursued the matter was due to the configuration of the eastern terminus of I-280; as a simple

cloverleaf interchange A cloverleaf interchange is a two-level interchange (road), interchange in which all turns are handled by slip roads. To go left (in right-hand traffic; reverse directions in left-driving regions), vehicles first continue as one road passe ...

, through I-80 traffic (along the north and east branches) was required to exit on both directions. Through I-74 traffic (along the west and south branches) is also required to exit on both directions. I-280 runs due west from the interchange.

Exit list

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Interstate 280 (Illinois-Iowa) 2 Illinois-Iowa 80-2 80-2 80-2 Illinois-Iowa Transportation in Henry County, Illinois Transportation in the Quad Cities